I'm confused, do you think you could link a decent tutorial video on the procedure you're talking about?

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I am sure there are trillions of videos on the net that show you how to mask, so just Google it. There are so many techniques to doing this. I made this tutorial for @ArtOfDrowning yesterday. Maybe it will help you understand the absolute basics of masking.

You don't always have to use Inverse while masking, but at times it's easier to do so. The Inverse technique is generally, but not always, used when you want something to cover the face, such as the slap in the tutorial.

(As a side note, and not to confuse you, but @FlowchartKen's instructions, while helpful, are not 100% accurate. Ctrl+I will "Invert" the selection which means to make it a negative just like a negative for film photo. I believe he meant Shift+Ctrl+I which will "Inverse" the selection. "Inverse" means to select the area you don't have selected at the time. This is the same technique used in this mini tutorial where it says to use "Select > Inverse" in the 3rd picture.)

edit: If you or anybody needs any more help on this, feel free to PM me. I will talk your ear off.

I am sure there are trillions of videos on the net that show you how to mask, so just Google it. There are so many techniques to doing this. I made this tutorial for @ArtOfDrowning yesterday. Maybe it will help you understand the absolute basics of masking.

You don't always have to use Inverse while masking, but at times it's easier to do so. The Inverse technique is generally, but not always, used when you want something to cover the face, such as the slap in the tutorial.

(As a side note, and not to confuse you, but @FlowchartKen's instructions, while helpful, are not 100% accurate. Ctrl+I will "Invert" the selection which means to make it a negative just like a negative for film photo. I believe he meant Shift+Ctrl+I which will "Inverse" the selection. "Inverse" means to select the area you don't have selected at the time. This is the same technique used in this mini tutorial where it says to use "Select > Inverse" in the 3rd picture.)

edit: If you or anybody needs any more help on this, feel free to PM me. I will talk your ear off.

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Perfect thanks, yeah I knew what he meant regarding the control+I. I know what masks are I was just not utilizing them to the fullest potential. I imagine I will be able to produce 5 quality stoops in the time it would have taken me to produce one knowing how to effectively use layer masks. Thanks again.

Perfect thanks, yeah I knew what he meant regarding the control+I. I know what masks are I was just not utilizing them to the fullest potential. I imagine I will be able to produce 5 quality stoops in the time it would have taken me to produce one knowing how to effectively use layer masks. Thanks again.

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Yea man layer masks are the best. I did my few first months of shooping here not knowing how to do them. For example using that image in the tutorial, I used to cut out the slap and paste it on a layer above the Ronda head. Works fine but if you have to adjust it later, you are screwed. You can also feather layer masks after the fact. Just double click the layer mask icon and a feathering adjustment will come up. You can also Cntrl+Click the mask icon which will make a selection of your mask (marching ants) so you can actually see what's masked off. Alt+Click on the mask icon will show you what is white and what is black in the mask. Shift+Click will turn the mask on and off. Right clicking the mask icon will bring up some other options too.

I am sure there are trillions of videos on the net that show you how to mask, so just Google it. There are so many techniques to doing this. I made this tutorial for @ArtOfDrowning yesterday. Maybe it will help you understand the absolute basics of masking.

You don't always have to use Inverse while masking, but at times it's easier to do so. The Inverse technique is generally, but not always, used when you want something to cover the face, such as the slap in the tutorial.

(As a side note, and not to confuse you, but @FlowchartKen's instructions, while helpful, are not 100% accurate. Ctrl+I will "Invert" the selection which means to make it a negative just like a negative for film photo. I believe he meant Shift+Ctrl+I which will "Inverse" the selection. "Inverse" means to select the area you don't have selected at the time. This is the same technique used in this mini tutorial where it says to use "Select > Inverse" in the 3rd picture.)

edit: If you or anybody needs any more help on this, feel free to PM me. I will talk your ear off.

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Hey BWR, actually no I did mean exactly that, inverting the pixels

It's something I do out of habit when I make a layer mask, as when masking faces or other components, you want most of the layer black (hidden) right?

So it doesn't really make sense the mask starts off white, with all pixels visible. So I just make the mask, then quickly press Ctrl+i, then paint over a face in white for example

It's something I do out of habit when I make a layer mask, as when masking faces or other components, you want most of the layer black (hidden) right?

So it doesn't really make sense the mask starts off white, with all pixels visible. So I just make the mask, then quickly press Ctrl+i, then paint over a face in white for example

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I see. I must have misunderstood what you said. Odd technique, but there's always more than one way to do what you want.

If you want your mask to start off black, just click the mask icon, press Ctrl+delete, and it will turn it black. Inversely, pressing Alt+delete will turn it white. (For w/e reason I don't think these techniques will work when you have the quick-select/magic-wand, or any of the lasso tools active. PS can be fickle.) You can also use this technique when you want to make a quick white or black background on a new layer. There's probably a shortcut to make neutral grey but I don't know how. There are other techniques for that.